Supposedly, the unexamined life is not worth living. That's at least what Socrates said.

20th Century Parliament Brawl

At the lecture on Monday about Federalism, the professor posted a picture by the end of the presentation with senators fighting each other in the Congress. The picture took place during early republican. Above posted is a video in the Parliament of Taiwan where senators were literally fighting each other due to disagreements in thoughts. The meeting that day was later ended in a mess where no conclusion was met.

In the Federalist, Madison wrote that however small the Republic is there should be a significant number of representatives to represent the sounds and thoughts of the people. The importance of the people to be heard and considered in the formation and improvements of the country. According to Madison, “to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice, will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations.” The main responsibilities of these representatives are well portrayed above but are they really committed to their duties or?

Often people think that elections is the proper way of choosing the right candidate to represent ourselves. Yet we are mostly faced with a few representatives that we are required to choose from mostly from specific political parties. In some aspects our votes are being manipulated by these political groups, yet in a legal way. They claim themselves as ones being elected thus so honorable to represent us and righteous. However, take a look at the video and comment on your thoughts on whether these political figures chosen by people are actually representing people’s thoughts and ideas? Or are they merely false figures who are there to act and portray themselves so honorable to us yet simply corrupted individuals not doing anything in particular?

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I believe that the vast majority of politicians elected to Congress do not represent the views of their constituents. Firstly, candidates running for office never take the needed time to get to know the diverse people that will be voting for or against them in a personal or meaningful way. Often the case is politicians becoming elected based on a promise that a majority of the people consider their most important goal and after that promise is fufilled all other values are vulnerbale to being compromised for the good of the party opposed to the good of the followers of the party. Almost as henious of a crime as misrepresentation is the pork barreling allowed by Congress. Citizens Against Goverment Waste estimate pork barreling spending for 2010 to be at 16.5 billion dollars. The people are aware of these crimes even if not to their full extent but will not demand better from their representatives so I don’t put the blame of corruption on polticians but on the voters who allow it.

Congressional representatives always believe that their elections are fair if they won and unfair otherwise. They believe they represent the public’s interest even though they rarely bother to ask the general public for their opinion. They merely just assume their judgement is always correct and better for the people. This leads them to think that they represent the people. They always promote voting but popular public opinion is still often restricted. The health care, for example, it was pass regardless whether we wanted it or not. Congress wanted it to pass, and they voted for it. We have a “democratic republic” because the option of aborting the government is written in the constitution. However, this occasion has never happened.

“Democracy is not real if the options are narrowed for you.”
Especially in an age when your only choices are between a conservative Republican and a moderate Democrat, the idea of Democracy is merely an illusion. Many liberals vote Democrat, not because the candidate actually fits their idea-set, but out of fear of conservative victory. They realize that Republicans vote along party lines, and if Liberals were to vote for candidates that represent their views (Green Party, Libertarian, Socialist, Independent), the united Conservatives would vote their candidate into office. American politics are starting to suck.

As already discussed in the blog, representatives many times do not in fact reflect the opinion of those he is elected to represent, this is because the representative thinks as an independent individual. They are in no way legally inclined to represent the views of those who elected him. Due to the nature of American politics, most of our interests and ideals are already being represented by a political party, the political party will seek its own benefit. Politics is manipulated by personal interest.